GLASGOW votes could be the deciding factor taking Yes or No over the finishing line tomorrow morning.

As the votes are counted, it will be possible to declare a winner when one side exceeds the 50% mark.

Each local authority in Scotland is conducting individual counts with results expected to start being declared at around 2am.

The largest cities are not expected to declare until 4am.

The timings and expected closeness of the vote mean when Glasgow is due to declare its results the total of the winner in the city could be enough to take Yes or No over the line.

Only Aberdeen, with 4.2% of the electorate, is expected after Glasgow.

Both camps have always maintained winning an overall majority in the city is crucial to the final result.

Alex Salmond told the Evening Times in July that he was confident the city would vote Yes and if so, Scotland would vote Yes, stating "you could say will be freedom city".

Labour on the Better Together side have invested heavily in persuading its traditional working class vote to stick with the UK as the SNP sought to persuade them to back Yes.

A record number of people in the city are expected to go to the polls to cast their vote for or against independence.

By lunchtime on Tuesday, 80% of Glasgow's postal votes had been returned.

And election officials believe that number will have increased to 85% by the time the polls close tonight.

As a result, they predict the turnout at polling stations will also be around 85%.

In Glasgow, the turnout for European elections is around 28%, for the city council election it is just over 40%, for the Scottish Parliament just over 50% and for the General Election just over 60%.

The massive number of people expected to vote today poses extra challenges for the two council men responsible for the smooth running of the poll chief executive George Black and his second in command David Miller.

Mr Black said: "We have 97% of the people of the city registered to vote which is the highest figure we have ever had."

A total of 428,800 ballot papers were sent out and a further 74,864 postal votes dispatched.

Voting will take place in 200 polling places across the city housing 483 polling stations.

Doors opened at 7am and will remain open until 10pm and votes will be cast in 483 ballot boxes - one for each polling station.

In 31 areas, a second ballot box has been issued in case the first becomes full.

Voters are being encouraged to cast their vote as soon as they can - because nobody will be allowed to vote after the 10pm deadline.

Given the scale of the expected turnout, contingency plans have been drawn up in the event of long queues at the cut-off point.

Mr Black said: "At schools, the doors will close at 10pm and anyone in the corridor who has still to cast a vote will be allowed to do so.

"At the Portakabins, we would have to mark the queue at 10pm and people after that point will not be able to vote.

"People must make their plans early and not leave it to the last minute. We have talked about what we do in the event of queues at 10pm but the fact is, there is nothing we can do if people turn up late because by law, we cannot allow them to vote."

Mr Black urged everyone who does vote to remember to put a X in one of the two boxes and not a tick.

He is hoping to be able to make that announcement no later than 4am on Friday.

Mr Black has been returning officer in city elections since 2003 but the independence vote will be his last as he retires in December.

He said: "It will be a relief to be on stage for the last time.

"It is always a relief to get to the end of the process because so many staff put so much effort into it.

"This is historic election and it is a privilege to be involved because it may never happen again."